


i've got a feeling if i sang this loud enough (you would sing it back to me)

by pawnshophearttradingup



Series: brufonse week 2020 [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27143909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pawnshophearttradingup/pseuds/pawnshophearttradingup
Summary: Despite everything, Bruno had the idle thought, on more than a few occasions, to try and reconnect with Alfonse. At the very least, it wouldn’t come off as someone trying to take advantage of a former acquaintance’s newfound fame, but that had never been Bruno’s concern, anyway.No, what had been his concern was that they had drifted apart so suddenly, and everything in Bruno’s life had changed.If Alfonse saw Bruno now, he certainly wouldn’t recognize his former friend. Thirteen years would do that, he supposed.
Relationships: Alfonse/Bruno | Zacharias
Series: brufonse week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978789
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	i've got a feeling if i sang this loud enough (you would sing it back to me)

**Author's Note:**

> WHAT'S UP I AM POSTING A FIC THAT IS OVER 4000 WORDS HOLY SHIT? of course it's for brufonse week. this one fic is the sole reason a lot of the other stuff for this week is just me taking stuff i'd already written but never posted and posting it now, because this one took me SO MUCH TIME...
> 
> also ao3 tags continue to elude me. promise i'll get it one day, but i'd honestly rather under-tag than over-tag
> 
> speaking of. there's a few mentions of eir/sharena as a ship in here, but it's not prominent enough to justify a ship tag imo. still worth mentioning

“So, what made you want to start a band in the first place?” the interviewer asked.

“Ah, well, when I was younger, a friend of mine talked a lot about starting a band of our own.”

“Oh! Was it one of the other members of the Golden Wings?”

Alfonse looked embarrassed, glancing away and rubbing at the back of his neck. “No, actually, it was… a friend I lost contact with years back.”

Bruno closed the tab the video had been open in, flipping back to the messages he had open. He’d seen enough.

“You said you were friends with Alfonse at one point.” It was a small miracle Laegjarn was messaging him privately and not in the band’s group chat. This was not a discussion he wished to have with everyone present.

“I did, yes.” He already could tell where she was going with this, and he wasn’t fond of it.

“He’s talking about you.” It wasn’t a question. She already knew.

“He is.”

The conversation ended there, though Bruno knew that wouldn’t be the end of the discussion, not by a long shot.

Alfonse had been his childhood friend, before Bruno’s life… well, certain people in his life would probably say it “went to shit,” which was an accurate enough assessment, Bruno supposed. No use sugarcoating it by wording it any other way.

His mother passed and his father, in his grief, sent both Bruno and his younger sister, Veronica, to live with relatives, and he hadn’t seen Alfonse since. Not outside of hearing about his band, at least.

It hadn’t been too bad for him, aside from that. He’d made new friends after moving and, in college, even got around to forming a band like he’d wanted to with some of said friends. Zenith had gotten relatively popular, too, perhaps even on par with Golden Wings, though they were separate genres, so that made it harder to quantify.

Still, despite everything, he’d had the idle thought, on more than a few occasions, to try and reconnect with Alfonse. At the very least, it wouldn’t come off as someone trying to take advantage of a former acquaintance’s newfound fame, but that had never been Bruno’s concern, anyway.

No, what had been his concern was that they had drifted apart so suddenly, and everything in Bruno’s life had changed. He’d even largely stopped using the name that Alfonse knew him by, though he was still sentimental enough to not stop using it entirely.

If Alfonse saw Bruno now, he certainly wouldn’t recognize his former friend. Thirteen years would do that, he supposed. Honestly, had he not remembered Alfonse’s name, he wasn’t certain he would have recognized Alfonse, either.

He clicked away from his messages, scrolling through the timeline before curiosity got the better of him and he entered Alfonse’s username. He didn’t follow Alfonse, but that didn’t stop him from occasionally checking up on his childhood friend.

It was clear that Alfonse wasn’t used to running a social media account. Most of his tweets were somewhat awkwardly worded, though less so than when he, presumably at his label’s behest, first made his account. Still, most images were clearly taken by someone else… Sharena, perhaps? She seemed the sort to “get” social media.

Despite the obvious lack of comfort Alfonse had with posting, Bruno still smiled as he “caught up” with his old friend. The posts were largely meaningless, simply about things he’d seen while touring or thanking his fans for attending concerts. It seemed that tour was coming to a close, though, and that Alfonse was happy to be returning home in a few weeks.

That was certainly something Bruno could relate to. After months of practically living on a tour bus, with the occasional nights spent in hotels, nothing felt nicer than finally sleeping in your own bed again. He’d come home from tour himself recently, and he was still marveling at how wonderful his bed was after so long away.

Speaking of which, it was getting late. He shut off his laptop and got ready for bed. He had a full schedule tomorrow, after all. His sister wanted to meet up and hang out for the first time since he’d returned, and he wouldn’t even dream of being late for that.

Veronica had dragged him to the mall, and then to dinner. The two of them talked over burgers and fries about what they’d been doing in their time apart, and Bruno was glad to know she was doing well, she wasn’t giving their aunt and uncle a hard time, her grades were high, and she’d even made a new friend since Bruno had last seen her. Ylgr sounded like a nice young girl. The way Veronica described her reminded him of Menja, whom Bruno had actually met before. (She was Helbindi’s younger sister, and when she was also friends with his sister, it would have been stranger if he hadn’t.)

As was the norm when they met up in person, Veronica returned to Bruno’s apartment with him after dinner. At this point, the guest room was practically hers. It wasn’t as if Bruno ever really had more people over, after all.

She sat on the couch in the living room, flipping through the TV channels. Bruno wasn’t paying much attention to what she left on, because he was instead sitting at the kitchen table, scribbling down lyrics that had come to mind while they were out. His laptop and phone were next to him, though it made the table look cluttered. It was alright, he didn’t do this too often. (That was a lie, but not much of one.)

He’d only just gotten it down when his phone started going off, vibrating for so long and so hard that it skittered across the table. Upon picking it up, Bruno realized what had happened, and why.

Alfonse had tweeted the link to one of his band’s songs. People were tagging the band, as well as its members, in the replies, or quoting it, and his notifications were “going wild,” as some might say. Some people were even asking for the two bands to collab, the concept of which frightened Bruno as much as it enticed him.

Bruno checked to see if Alfonse had said anything in particular about the song, but… no, it was simply the link, and nothing more.

It was one of their only love songs, Bruno noted. It wasn’t the usual for their band, but… well. Bruno had been feeling sentimental that day when he wrote it, and perhaps he’d been thinking of his old friend more than he normally would. Nobody else needed to know that, though.

Hopefully nobody would. He formed a reputation around being “mysterious,” even going so far as to wear a mask while on stage. He’d shared so little information about his life that some fans were still trying to piece together information from even the vaguest of song lyrics.

It was a little amusing, he had to be honest. Some of their theories were so off that it was funny, and Bruno and his bandmates always got more than a few laughs out of those.

“Brother?”

Bruno startled, turning around in his chair to face his sister. “Yes, Veronica?”

“You’ve been staring at your phone for a while.”

Shamefully, he realized he had, and that the screen had even turned off at some point. “So I have.”

Veronica gave him a concerned look. “You should go to bed.”

“Perhaps I should,” Bruno replied, rising from his seat. He could think about this in the morning, hopefully with a clearer head.

Alfonse had followed him.

Bruno had woken up to the notification on his phone and, not having the mental capacity to deal with it at the moment, promptly ignored it to get ready. He had a rehearsal to prepare for, after all.

He’d managed to mostly forget about it by the time he’d reached Laegjarn’s house, and he continued to not think about it through most of their time together, until Helbindi spoke up while they were taking a break.

“So the kid from Golden Wings followed the band account.”

“He’s our age,” Bruno responded, only to be waved off immediately. “... He followed me, as well.”

“How strange…” Laegjarn commented, a look in her eyes that suggested she knew something Bruno didn’t. “He certainly didn’t follow any of us.”

Eir glanced up from her guitar where she was standing in the back. “His sister followed me recently…” A smile graced her lips. Those had been rare when they first met. Bruno was glad she was finding more to smile about recently.

“Have you spoken to her?” Bruno asked, eager to move the topic away from where he saw it heading if he let it go on.

“Not yet…” She was blushing when she said that, just a little. Bruno couldn’t blame her. Sharena had always been such a cheerful person, it was hard for people not to like her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Laegjarn give him a look, the kind that meant their conversation was not finished. He almost expected her to say something about it, when she opened her mouth again. “We should get back to work,” she said instead.

Bruno nodded, picking his guitar back up.

The rehearsal went fine after that, though Bruno hadn’t expected anything else. It was the aftermath that he was concerned about.

Helbindi and Eir had already made their excuses to leave. Bruno would have, as well, but then Laegjarn looked at him and said, “Would you mind staying a little longer so we can talk?”

He probably could have said no, but… he had to be honest with himself. Laegjarn was one of his closest friends at this point in his life, and he knew she likely had his best interests at heart. He would have felt terrible if he didn’t at least hear her out.

“Are you going to do anything about this?”

Bruno sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Do you want to?”

Again. “I don't know.”

Laegjarn hesitated for a moment, then pulled Bruno into a hug. “I think you should. You might regret it if you don’t. It’s another chance, after all.”

Bruno hugged her back. “Thank you, Laegjarn.”

He couldn’t see her well enough to tell, but he thought she must be smiling right now.

Weeks later, he still hadn’t done anything. Sure, he’d followed Alfonse back once he got home, but he hadn’t sent Alfonse a message or done anything else. He wasn’t sure what to say even if he tried to reach out. “Do you remember your old childhood friend Zacharias who moved away, because I am him and I’ve missed you so much” felt strange no matter how he worded it, and much too familiar for someone he hadn’t spoken to in thirteen years.

It wasn’t worth moping around the apartment and fixating on it, though. Some fresh air would do him some good, he thought, and maybe it would allow him to find a new perspective on these matters. Besides, he realized when he opened his fridge that he needed groceries, and that required he venture out into the real world at least long enough to acquire some more.

That was how he ended up at the grocery store, his cart mere inches away from a very familiar face, who was looking up at him like he very much recognized him.

“You’re… Bruno, right?” Alfonse said, though it seemed like he already knew the answer. It wasn’t something most people would realize, though, as most of Zenith’s fans and the general public had never seen Bruno without the mask, and he tended to wear his hair differently at home. That, combined with the lack of a costume, made him a lot harder to identify off-stage. He was actually surprised Alfonse had recognized him like this. “I had no idea we lived so close to each other!”

Bruno didn’t, either.

He wasn’t too far away from his childhood home, only an hour or so, but he didn’t realize Alfonse had stayed this close by, either. Perhaps that was his own fault, though, he’d never noticed it in any of the posts Alfonse made. “Neither did I,” he answered, when he realized he’d been spending a little too much time in his thoughts.

“This is wonderful. Maybe we can meet up soon? On purpose, I mean. I’d love to exchange songwriting tips with you.”

Damn him, Bruno couldn’t say no to Alfonse, not when he looked so genuinely excited by the prospect. “Of course. Message me a time and a place later.”

“Right. I’ll… talk to you later, then.” Was it just Bruno’s eyes or did Alfonse’s smile falter for a moment there? Either way, Alfonse was smiling again as he left, waving goodbye to Bruno.

When he arrived home, he’d already gotten the message from Alfonse. It seemed he wanted to meet at a coffee shop, one that Bruno was well-acquainted with from frequent visits on late nights. It struck him briefly that this felt like a first date, but it couldn’t be. They’d only just met again, after all.

One meeting turned into two turned into three turned into many more, and Bruno was certain he was developing a friendship with Alfonse again, though he’d never said as much. He’d even had the chance to introduce Eir and Sharena for real.

Of course, it seemed like Sharena was rather aware of who Bruno was, considering when she followed him, the first message she’d sent called him Zacharias, and Bruno had to make her promise not to tell her brother about it.

She’d been displeased by that, but ultimately acquiesced, though in exchange, Bruno had basically had to divulge his entire life story since they’d parted. He was certain that Sharena would have asked no matter what, though, so it felt like a decent trade-off.

As expected, Bruno’s feelings for Alfonse only seemed to get stronger as time passed and they hung out together more. It was stressful, certainly, but Bruno had been handling it for this long, he could handle it for as long as he needed to.

Perhaps not as easily now, though, when Alfonse had brought up the idea of their bands touring together.

They’d been discussing it in passing for a while now, but it looked like Alfonse was now serious about it. He’d mentioned it to his manager, and she had apparently been enthralled by the idea.

Alfonse seemed enthusiastic about it, as well, but Bruno…

It wouldn’t be fair to say the idea didn’t appeal to him. He wouldn’t have entertained the idea as much with Alfonse as he did if it didn’t. The issue was, he didn’t know how his band would react to it. Not to mention the thought of being with Alfonse every day…

Well, that, too, wouldn’t be a hardship, if he were being honest. He cared deeply for Alfonse and always had. It was just that he’d been in love with Alfonse for so long that he was afraid something would finally slip if they spent too much time together. He knew if he wanted to pursue a relationship with Alfonse he would have to come clean, too, but then how could he explain why he’d hid it for so long? He’d had plenty of opportunities to say something about it, yet he hadn’t, always convincing himself it wasn’t the right time, or the right circumstances…

It felt more like he was punishing himself, really, for falling out of contact so long ago in the first place. He knew it wasn’t really his fault, but couldn’t he have reached out sooner?

And, while he was being honest with himself, he knew his band wouldn’t mind it. Sure, the difference in style might come off as strange, but none of his friends would care much about it. Plenty of bands have toured together when they sounded nothing alike, it wasn’t that odd.

Eir would probably be thrilled to get the chance to meet with Sharena again, too. It seemed her infatuation had developed into a full-blown crush, and that Sharena reciprocated. They were keeping quiet about it for now, which Bruno imagined had to be hard for Sharena of all people, but they’d both come to him about it when it happened, and he couldn’t be happier for either of them.

It only made his situation weigh heavier on him.

In the end, he told Alfonse that he would “think about it,” then retreated from the coffee shop that had become their usual spot and turned off his phone as soon as he got home.

He wasn’t lying. He would think about it… but first, he would prefer to pretend, for even a little while, that this wasn’t an issue he’d need to deal with soon.

His band agreed. A bit quickly, actually. Bruno was slightly suspicious that they’d already known this was coming, but he brushed it off as he had no evidence to prove it. Now he merely had to confront Alfonse about it.

… If he could even manage to write a single message to him, anyway. He’d drafted and redrafted the message so many times already. It didn’t help that he’d never answered Alfonse’s last message, one sent while his phone was off. It was a simple “Are you alright?” and Bruno didn’t have the heart to tell Alfonse that no, he wasn’t okay, because the weight of his choices was beginning to crush him.

He sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. Perhaps he should just… send what he had written. After all, he was beginning to get the feeling that no matter what he said, it wouldn’t ever satisfy him, and he knew he needed to say something soon.

He gave it another minute or so before sending it off. “My band said yes. However, I’d like to talk to you about this more. Can we meet up tomorrow, at the coffee shop?”

The bubbles that meant Alfonse was typing his own response came up, and Bruno waited, agonizingly, staring so intensely at his phone that he thought he might burn a hole through it.

It felt like hours to Bruno, though it couldn’t have been more than three minutes in reality.

“We can meet up right now if you’re available,” Alfonse had replied, with a smiling emoji at the end. The emoji was probably meant to assuage Bruno’s worries but it had the opposite effect on him. Alfonse almost never used emojis, and were the situation not what it was, Bruno would have joked that he was surprised Alfonse knew what they even were.

As it was, he just responded, “Alright. I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

The coffee shop wasn’t that far from his apartment, only a 10 minute walk, but Bruno needed the extra time not only to get dressed, but to calm his nerves.

It wasn’t enough, not really, but he hoped he at least looked calm as he entered the coffee shop. Alfonse was already there, seated at their usual table. There was already a coffee on Bruno’s side, he noticed, sliding into the chair across from Alfonse. He was touched by the gesture but didn’t focus on it much.

“I don’t have the details yet,” Alfonse informed him, taking a sip of his own drink, “but our manager will contact yours as soon as that’s worked out. But… that’s not what you wanted to talk to me about, is it?”

“It’s not,” Bruno admitted. “I… wanted to tell you something. Something that I should have told you months ago.”

Alfonse looked unsurprised, but he still asked, “What is it?”

Now or never, Bruno supposed. He took in a deep breath, then said, “Do you remember, as children, that one summer we spent together building a fort in the woods?” It was indirect, but hopefully it got the message across. Bruno never had figured out how he wanted to word it, exactly, anyway.

“Of course I do, Zacharias,” Alfonse replied, barely batting an eye. As if he was commenting on the weather.

“I… what?”

A smile began to pull the corners of Alfonse’s lips upward. He looked incredibly sly right now, like he’d managed to pull one over on Bruno. Though it was beginning to look like he had, which left Bruno struggling to keep up with the conversation.

“You didn’t think I had no idea who you were, did you?”

“I… yes, I did! Why wouldn’t I?” He paused. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t you?” Alfonse countered, before leaning back. “I was waiting for you to say something first. I didn’t want to scare you off, and then Sharena said something about you not wanting me to know, and I just assumed you would tell me on your own time.” The smile turned sadder. “I knew the whole time.”

“The whole time…?”

“Ever since I saw your band for the first time. I even knew that song, the one I posted, was about me.”

It felt like Bruno had been doused by a bucket of cold water. He felt the blood drain from his face, quick as if someone had pulled a plug from a sink.

Alfonse seemed to notice, because he was quick to at least attempt to reassure him. “It’s alright, Zacharias!” He paused, his own face flushing. “Did you ever see that interview I did with E.L.F. News?”

Bruno thought back. Yes, he was almost certain he had. That had been the interview where Alfonse mentioned Zacharias. He nodded.

“... The whole thing?” Alfonse sounded doubtful.

“No, I… suppose I didn’t.”

Alfonse laughed, pulling out his phone and looking for the video. “I really think you should.”

When Alfonse managed to find the video, he moved to sit next to Bruno, sliding his chair over so close, the two of them were almost touching. He skimmed to a later moment in the video, then glanced up at Bruno. When he nodded, Alfonse finally hit play.

“--a friend I lost contact with years back,” Alfonse in the video said, setting his hands in his lap.

“Oh! It sounds like he means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

Both Alfonses sunk into their seat at the same time, and the blush on both their faces deepened, reaching the tips of their ears. “It does,” the recording said. “... I loved him. I still do, and… I’d like to find him one day, so I could tell him to his face.”

The audience watching aww-ed, and Alfonse closed out of the video, turning to face Bruno. “I missed you so much,” he said, face serious despite the red coating his cheeks, “and I need you to know your feelings are reciprocated. They always have been.”

For once, Zacharias was at a loss for words. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it, opened it again, then finally closed it. He had absolutely nothing to say.

But he did have something he wanted to do. He reached out, cupping Alfonse’s face in his hands, and leaned in.

Alfonse met him halfway, and then they were finally kissing. It wasn’t a deep kiss, seeing as they were in public and neither of them would have been comfortable with that, but they stayed like that for a minute, until Zacharias needed to breathe again.

They were both quiet again, sipping at their drinks, and then finally, Zacharias refound his voice. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting for so long.”

The tour was going well. Surprisingly so, Zacharias noted, looking through reviews. Usually he wouldn’t bother but he was nervous about the reception of this tour in particular. A lot of fans “freaked out” at the announcement, and some of them even began to speculate on why it was happening, why now, whatever questions came to mind.

A couple of them even correctly managed to guess that the band members had gotten close, though nobody had guessed that there were two couples between the bands.

“Close friends,” they’d guessed. Zacharias couldn’t help but laugh.

Their perception was shattered day one of the tour, when Alfonse invited Zacharias on stage and introduced him as his boyfriend while they sang a song they’d written together. Most fans hadn’t seemed to mind, though, and they still didn’t mind when Sharena and Eir followed in their footsteps in announcing their relationship.

Zacharias was content, in a way he hadn’t been in a long time. Sure, he’d been happy, but he’d still had a lingering sadness from his departure from Alfonse’s life. He didn’t feel any more whole, per se, but he would readily admit this was the best he’d felt in quite a number of years. He was even using the name Zacharias more again.

Tour was passing by so quickly, too. There were only a few more days, not even a full week, until they’d be on their way home. Curled up together in bed in the hotel room they were currently staying in, Alfonse noted that their time like this was coming to an end.

Zacharias couldn’t help but laugh at that, just a little. “My dear, we live so close by each other. You can spend the night whenever you want.”

“Immediately after coming home?” Alfonse retorted, and Zacharias could tell that he was expecting a no for an answer, like he’d found Zacharias’s one exception.

So Zacharias may have taken a bit more pleasure than he would have otherwise when he said, “If you’d like,” laughing at how red Alfonse’s face turned in that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> title from paramore's "where the lines overlap"
> 
> i'm [@lineraway](https://twitter.com/lineraway) on twitter, and [zenithgays](https://zenithgays.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. also if you liked this fic, pls leave kudos and/or comments, it motivates me to keep going!


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